Color printers are in common use in the business world today. One of the important characteristics of a color printer is the ability to accurately reproduce colors specified in a user document for colors within the printer gamut. In order to provide this accurate reproduction of color the printer must be characterized.
Color printer characterization derives the conversion between the input signals to the printer, or device values, and the color measurements of the resulting printed colors or color values. Accurate printer characterization generally involves numerous measurements of printed color samples.
In one approach, a basic printer model is derived using a minimal number of patches e.g. solid overprints and single-colorant ramps, and refined with additional patches. Printer characteristics often slightly drift over a period of time, thus requiring re-characterization; and hence many more measurements.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method of characterizing a color printer that reduced the amount of measurement required to recharacterize the printer.